Courturier is going to be a great player. People need to be patient because not every player is P Kane/Toews/Crosby/Malkin/other highly successful players to varying degrees right when they enter the league. He's not getting the opportunities to put up big numbers. If he doesn't improve this year, I'll start to worry.

I roll my eyes so hard when main board morons claim Couturier is already a bust based on his play as a 19 and 20 year old. There were two forwards taken ahead of him who have barely played in the NHL yet, and no one's calling them busts.

I roll my eyes so hard when main board morons claim Couturier is already a bust based on his play as a 19 and 20 year old. There were two forwards taken ahead of him who have barely played in the NHL yet, and no one's calling them busts.

Yeah, I don't understand how someone can be called a bust at 20 years old. Couturier just seems to be the flavor of the year to be thrown out as a bust/overrated, all the while in every trade proposal its "that starts with Couturier..."

Its a real headscratcher.

And don't bother trying to reason with them. It always reminds me of a fav quote, "talk sense to a fool, and he calls you foolish."

Yeah, I don't understand how someone can be called a bust at 20 years old. Couturier just seems to be the flavor of the year to be thrown out as a bust/overrated, all the while in every trade proposal its "that starts with Couturier..."

Its a real headscratcher.

And don't bother trying to reason with them. It always reminds me of a fav quote, "talk sense to a fool, and he calls you foolish."

Nah, it's the same thing around here. We undervalue players in other systems just like others undervalue our players.

Yea I do. At the minimum he will see better linemates with a full season of Read on one wing and someone like Talbot, or perhaps Gagne if he's brough back, on the other.

He's still going to get tough 5 on 5 assignments, but I think better wingers will go a long way for him. He also had some bad luck shooting 5.3% on the year.

His two most common linemates last year at 5 v 5 were Talbot 34% and Read 32%.

Bringing in Lecavalier and Streit only bump him down further on the PP list yet does nothing to help him get more offensive zone starts at ES. If anything, it cements him into having to do all the defensive lifting at forward. And while his S% might go up, his PDO numbers and On-Ice S% numbers aren't really out of whack with the rest of the team. As much as I like Lecavalier and think he here on a decent contract, I believe it's going to stunt Couturier's offensive growth next season.

I find it funny that people have been saying he had a 'bad' season... when his defensive stats were far and away better than the guy who came 6th in Selke voting, (Jay McClement) and his offence was the same. (Considering they played comparable minutes, arguably both top 5 toughest of any player in the league.)

McClement and Boyd Gordon were the only two guys on the Selke voting list who played comparable minutes to Couts (Gordons slightly easier) and McClement was poor in comparison and came 6th, and Gordon was worse that Couts statistically but came 12th. Crazy that Couts didn't get 1 vote!

My big concern in his development is not really how hard his QoC is, he has shown in two years he can still be positive in advanced stats while playing some of the toughest mins in the league; it is his zone starts, I know they are interlinked, but the amount of times he gets thrown out there in his own zone is absurd, at least even that up a bit and give him a chance to get near the opposition net, even if it is against the better oppositions players! It would also let him develop his faceoff ability more, as all his facoffs at the moment are do-or-die, which does not encourage technical ability or trying new things.

His two most common linemates last year at 5 v 5 were Talbot 34% and Read 32%.

Bringing in Lecavalier and Streit only bump him down further on the PP list yet does nothing to help him get more offensive zone starts at ES. If anything, it cements him into having to do all the defensive lifting at forward. And while his S% might go up, his PDO numbers and On-Ice S% numbers aren't really out of whack with the rest of the team. As much as I like Lecavalier and think he here on a decent contract, I believe it's going to stunt Couturier's offensive growth next season.

Great points. I can't disagree at all that Vinny could stun Cout's growth. He clearly won't be asked to play 2nd line center.

I still believe, though, that Couts can produce offense in his 3rd line C role. Yes Read and Talbot were his most used linemates; but Read was injured at the end of February with a rib injury that was supposed to take 6 weeks to heal. He came back in 2 and probably shouldn't have because he was a completely different player after that. He had 7 goals and 13 points through 18 games before he got hurt. Then he fell off to the tune of 4 goals and 11 points over the next 24. Talbot got hurt later himself, and is not an offensive player (despite his season 2 years ago).

I just really believe that if Couts played with Read and Gagne (or something similar) for a full year, he'd put up better numbers, even while maintaining his defensive role.

Great points. I can't disagree at all that Vinny could stun Cout's growth. He clearly won't be asked to play 2nd line center.

I still believe, though, that Couts can produce offense in his 3rd line C role. Yes Read and Talbot were his most used linemates; but Read was injured at the end of February with a rib injury that was supposed to take 6 weeks to heal. He came back in 2 and probably shouldn't have because he was a completely different player after that. He had 7 goals and 13 points through 18 games before he got hurt. Then he fell off to the tune of 4 goals and 11 points over the next 24. Talbot got hurt later himself, and is not an offensive player (despite his season 2 years ago).

I just really believe that if Couts played with Read and Gagne (or something similar) for a full year, he'd put up better numbers, even while maintaining his defensive role.

I'm pretty sure Read was in the top 6 before his injury as well, so he wouldn't have seen Couturier much excluding the time Briere missed.

Per Meltzer in today blog post..I was wondering who made good use of the offseason. Glad to see Couts adding some LBS...

Look out Malkin!

Quote:

* According to a recent French-language interview with Sean Couturier, the third-season NHL forward has made productive use of the long offseason, adding several pounds of muscle to his frame. In the section above, I talked about Couturier's need to improve on faceoffs. The added muscle should help him there, as well in puck battles along the walls.

Meh..skating is overrated (when you have a high hockey IQ)....Couts is positionally savy and skates well enough. Robitaille used to be criticized for his lack of skating prowess but I would say he had a pretty good career.